In central Moscow, construction cranes loom over the Kremlin, as hotel and office towers rise up to accommodate Russia's newly minted companies and the flood of foreign business visitors. Downtown apartments that cost $100,000 a few years ago now cost $1 million. On weekends, shoppers by the thousands line up behind cash registers at the 150,000-square-meter Tyoply Stan suburban mall, loading up on home furnishings, televisions and cell phones. Stockholm-based Ikea, which owns the mall, reported that it received 52 million shoppers in 2005, making it the most-visited shopping center in Europe. Moscow is adding 100,000 cars to its roads every year, and the congestion is so bad that on Oct. 31, players from Russia's Spartak soccer team were forced to abandon their bus and take the subway to the stadium, arriving just in time for their Champions League match against Inter Milan. When Spartak lost, 1-0, the coach blamed the traffic.... http://www.bloomberg.com

A powerful typhoon tore through the eastern Philippines on Thursday, blowing away small houses, uprooting trees and cutting off power to thousands of homes, officials said. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.With gusts of up to 140 mph, Typhoon Durian lashed the eastern island province of Catanduanes, about 230 miles east of the capital, Manila. Forecasters warned capital residents to brace for potentially destructive winds, and authorities ordered the evacuation of coastal areas.The "supertyphoon" — the fourth to hit the Philippines in as many months — was packing sustained winds of 121 mph, the Philippine weather bureau said.Rescuers struggled against the winds to rescue several residents whose roofs were blown off, exposing them to rain, flying metal and other debris, Mayor Jessie Robredo of the city of Naga told the Associated Press by cellphone....http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2006-11-29-typhoon-philippines_x.htm?csp=34

An American cross-party group charged with reviewing policy on Iraq will recommend a US troop pullback and a new diplomatic offensive, reports say. The report calls for US troops in Iraq to be switched from a combat to a support role, according to sources quoted by the New York Times newspaper. It also recommends direct talks with Syria and Iran, the paper says. The Iraq Study Group's chairman said it had reached a consensus and would announce its findings next Wednesday. Lee Hamilton did not give further details. Washington is considering radical options to find a way out of the growing crisis in Iraq, the BBC's Jon Leyne reports from Amman. Details of the ISG report, which was compiled by both President George W Bush's Republicans and members of the Democratic Party, leaked out as the US leader was in the Jordanian capital to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6158581.stm

Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found. Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money. A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible. The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute trafficking in Kosovo. The assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations acknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread. "We've had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping - problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations," Jane Holl Lute told the BBC. "My operating presumption is that this is either a problem or a potential problem in every single one of our missions."...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6195830.stm

Bush has pledged to keep American troops in Iraq until "the job is complete". Speaking after a summit in Jordan with Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki, he said troops would remain as long as Mr Maliki's government wanted them there. But he said it was important to speed up training for the Iraqi security forces. Mr Bush praised Mr Maliki as the "right guy for Iraq". The summit had been delayed by a day amid denials of a snub to Mr Bush. It was held as reports suggested a report by America's cross-party Iraq Study Group would recommend changes to US policy. It appears to recommend a pullback of US troops to their bases but no firm timetable for a pullout from Iraq. Mr Bush said the Iraqi prime minister had told him any partition of the country would only make things worse. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6158119.stm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered wide-ranging peace concessions to Palestinians on Monday if they turned away from violence, saying they would be able to achieve an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in real peace talks with Israel. In some of his most conciliatory remarks since winning election in March, Olmert directly addressed the Palestinians, promising to reduce checkpoints, release frozen funds and free prisoners in exchange for a serious Palestinian push for peace. "I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbors in the hope that it won't be returned empty," Olmert said. Palestinians in Gaza had not fired rockets at Israel in 24 hours, a sign that the two-day-old cease-fire is taking hold, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. However, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two rockets at Israel on Monday, despite the cease-fire, Palestinian witnesses said. Israeli rescue services said there were no reports of injuries from the rockets....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/27/world/main2209335.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2209335